28 The Purified Ether

Jorge and Miles arrived at the APA 8 floor apartment complex where Colonel Riva owned a unit. Unit number 818 was located on the far side and a bit inaccessible from the elevator service but near the emergency stair exit. Colonel Riva uses the stairs to climb up most of the time. It served as his form of exercise, then reserve the use of the elevator for groceries. That day was tranquil, and Jorge presumed the Colonel just had some form of social withdrawal; hence he cannot be contacted, as a personal way of disconnecting with his external environment. Jorge knocked on the door.

"Colonel Riva, this is Jorge. Are you inside?"

Miles took his turn to knock. Repeating what Jorge said but still no response.

Miles had a different idea. "Can we dial his number? If he is here, we shall hear his phone ringing."

Jorge thinks it's a good idea, so he took out his phone and dialed Colonel Riva's number. A few seconds later, a ring tone can be heard from the inside. Jorge and Miles looked at each other.

Miles tried to open the door, and just as he thought, the door was not locked. Jorge pushed the door slowly, and the apartment was the standard studio unit with a large bed near the window, and the unit had no partition. They could see the inside were empty as daylight pierced through the horizontal blinds. Jorge made a facial motion for Miles to check the bathroom beside him. Miles unlocked the bathroom door and saw no one inside. Jorge took the colonel's phone from the table. It is password locked. There's no way to check the colonel's last call or messages.

"Where is he?" Miles asked. "Why would he leave his phone?"

Jorge looked at the desktop computer, and the CPU is lighted. Miles went closer to move the computer mouse to check if the colonel's desktop is open. It is. The screensaver stopped moving and showed a video of the Colonel in a paused state.

Jorge thought it was unusual. "What is it?"

Miles read the video file and looked at Jorge.

"A video diary? Why would he keep this? What is he up to?"

Jorge sat on the chair and motioned to Miles. "Play it."

Miles clicked on the play button. The video showed Colonel Riva massaging his nape as he talked in front of the computer screen.

"This is day 151 of my journey. Suppose you are someone viewing this and looking for my whereabouts. Do not look for me. At the moment, I might interest you, but my absence has a purpose that you may or may not understand. The last year has been crazy. If you think you know now, I beg you not to come to look for me. My interest in this unusual experiment only proves that the world we currently live in is not what it seems and how f_cked up we are. I have done evil things in the past. Lord knows how I want to change it so I can sleep tight every night. This journey… we can change everything. See this fluid? This is a purified ether, and this is the one that makes things possible. " The colonel placed it in front of the camera and shook it a bit.

"This will help me change my past." The colonel drank the fluid and, after a few seconds, went into an uncontrollable seizure and fell on the floor. Jorge seemed confused. "What the hell is happening?"

Miles tightened his grip on the table. "That's a dangerous seizure. He could die from it."

Then after a few minutes, the colonel ran out of the room shouting in agony, and the camera could only record his frightened voice as he jumped from the 8th-floor building down below. Jorge and Miles looked at each other and at once went out of the room towards the balcony. They looked down below, and they were convinced any suicide attempt will instantly kill anyone falling from that height.

Miles asked, "Did he really…. ?" He did not finish his words.

Miles instantly called the precinct from his cellphone. " Hello, this is officer Miles Menendez. I am calling... to ask... if there's a recent report of suicide that was received during the last week?"

The emergency response team hotline number knew of anything emergency in nature. It was also quick in its response to any question.

" Thank you." Miles took a long deep breath and looked at Jorge to announce, "the office did not receive any emergency suicide call."

Jorge was in deep thought.

" So... If there's no reported suicide in the last few days… what happened?" he asked.

"A prank?" Miles guessed.

Jorge countered Miles.

" I have a feeling the colonel will not consider that option."

Jorge went back inside the room and looked for the bottle of fluid the Colonel drank.

"Find the bottle!" Jorge shouted. Jorge dumped the trash can on the floor. But did not find the bottle. Miles looked under the bed.

"Bingo!" Miles exclaimed when he saw it under the bed. It probably rolled under after the colonel went into a seizure. Miles inserted his arm under the bed but could not reach it. "Jorge, help me push this bed." Jorge helped Miles pushed the bed out and were able to get the empty bottle. Jorge placed the bottle's brim near his nasal area, and he could smell it as sweet and fruity. The leftover fluid is transparent. He looked at it over the sunlight, and it produced a rainbow-like hue when the light hit the inside of the bottle.

"What are we looking at?" Miles asked.

" Could be the same fluid from Doctor's Molina's office, " Jorge surmised. Miles took the bottle and smelled it too.

"This is surprisingly drug-like from its smell," he hinted.

Jorge saw the bottle cap on the floor and placed it to cover the remaining content.

"We need to have this analyzed and see what this is."

Jorge took out a USB he had in his pocket and copied the Colonel's video diaries from the source folder. The videos required many viewing hours and would take a while to discover what the Colonel had gone through. It may also provide clues of where he went.

Jorge and Miles rearranged the bed and replaced the garbage. They also closed the apartment door but did not lock it from the inside. They rechecked the building height looking up and down. Who could survive from a fall?

Jorge called Lyca inside their vehicle.

"We are on the way back."

Lyca was already inside the lobby of the lab.

"Good. I am here in the waiting area. Did you find the Colonel?"

"No. It's difficult to tell what happened."

"Hope he's just on vacation."

Jorge smirked, "that's better than falling from the 8th-floor building."

Lyca laughed.

"What about it?" she asked.

Jorge pinched his forehead.

"Just a hyperbole to make things acceptable. But it's nothing… "

"Whatever. By the way, I found a new witness."

Jorge was quick to respond. "Who?"

"I'll tell you who he is when you get here. But he ID the murderer. It's a woman in a yellow coat."

Jorge was elated to hear the news.

"That is a breakthrough, Lyca!"

"Thanks. By the way, lab people are waiting. The sampled fluid from Dr. Molina's office is something more than clear water. You better come quickly to hear the details."